Mage races
This page is a discussion of the Racial Traits of the races that can play as the Mage class, and how much they can offer a mage. Alliance Gnomes - traits Gnomes are especially well-suited to caster classes, with a 5% bonus to Intellect, and a bonus to arcane resistance. Also useful is the Escape Artist ability, which is invaluable when the low-hitpoint mage needs to get away from creeps or players with movement-hampering abilities. The bonus to engineering is nice if you want to explore the strange devices produced by engineering, however explosives (a large subset of engineering recipies) are of dubious use to a mage with a full spell arsenal. There are plenty of other interesting things, however, and there is no shortage of gnomish mage engineers. Humans - traits The human's abilities of The Human Spirit, and Diplomacy are useful for any character, and the Spirit bonus means you'll recharge your mana pool (and health) at a slightly faster rate then similarly equipped mages. Perception is also useful for spotting lurking creeps with stealth or an enemy Rogue. As low hitpoint casters, mages are often early targets of sneaky types. The human bonus to mace and sword skills might not serve the mage very well, as mages can only use swords, and even then only with training. Since swinging with a weapon is usually your tertiary source of damage (after spells and wands), and staves tend to have more caster-oriented bonuses besides, you might not get much mileage out of this bonus. Draenei - traits The new expansion recently brought Draenei to the Alliance. The Gift of the Naaru gives a heal ability every 3 minutes that scales with level: It can be useful in a tight corner. Draenei Mages receive the very useful Inspiring Presence which increases chance to hit with spells by 1% for both you and all party members within 30 yards. The 10 point increase in Shadow Resistance only really makes a difference at lower levels, as gear and buffs will outweigh this in later levels; which is where you tend to need this protection. The 5 point skill bonus to Jewelcrafting is of minor interest. Horde Trolls - traits Troll abilities (with the exception of the two ranged weapon bonuses) each have their own upside and downside for a mage. Trolls gain a +5 bonus to their Bow and Throwing weapon skills, but since mages are unable to actually use either of these types of weapons, they are useless. The troll regeneration ability increases health regenerated by 10% and allows 10% of said regeneration to continue while in combat. This means less time spent eating for the mage, but since mages can conjure free food and have their downtime stretched by mana, not health, this seems like a weak bonus at best. However, since they retain some health regeneration in combat, troll mages can take a hit or two more than other mages before keeling over. Trolls have an ability called Berserking. This ability increases attack and casting speed by 10-30%, depending on how badly you are injured when you activate Berserking. At full health, this increases casting speed by 10%, but if you are badly hurt, you gain the full 30% bonus to casting and attack speed. This ability is overlooked by most players, but it can be a huge help in many tight situations. Trolls also gain a +5% bonus to damage done against Beasts. This works the same as it does for any other class, increasing damage done against beasts by 5%, no matter the source. A very good racial passive for grinding. Trivia: Maybe one of the first races to wield Arcane magic, the Trolls are the only one who did not fall into Warlockery (on the opposite hand of Eredar, Night Elves, Orcs, Humans, High & Blood Elves, Undead, Lost Ones and Gnomes) after using it too much, although Zalazane could be considered as an exception. Undead - traits Underwater Breathing and Shadow Resistance have obvious value, especially with quests that bring you to the bottom of a lake, or when fighting priests or warlocks. The Will of the Forsaken ability will break any fear, sleep or charm effects on you, and make you immune for the next 5 seconds, during which time whoever cast the effect on you will probably try to re-cast it, buying you time to peel off a sheep spell and give them a taste of their own medicine. Since a mage's capacity for damage and their ability to shake off pursuit makes them prime targets for such crowd control spells, this is a useful ability, even considered overpowering by some. Cannibalize has situational use. Since mages can summon themselves a snack and eat it, cannibalizing is almost a waste of time if you are merely using it reduce downtime. However, cannibalise can also be used in combat while eating can not. Combined with the polymorph ability if you are at low health and a nearby corpse, it can be used to regenerate most of your health in a tight situation. Blood Elves - traits The new expansion recently brought Blood Elves to the Horde. They have casting classes bonus, which is excellent for mages (luckily, they also can play mages). Arcane Torrent is very effective against other casting-type enemies and using it with Mana Tap can give back a decent amount of mana while lowering one's enemy's. It can make the difference when the enemy is almost out of mana. Also, they have more natural resistance to all mage schools, which makes players more reliable against other casting enemies. The enchanting bonus also ensures bonus to tailored clothes and raises cap for the profession. Besides that, they have the higher Intellect in Horde, which means more mana, more DPS and critical hits. Blood Elves seem to be the answer from Blizzard to mages like the Gnomes from Alliance. Race Attributes: Comparison Table Official information Category:Mages Category:Races